Station 3: Energy Transfer - Hot Lamp

Directions: Use the following information to answer questions 1 through 5.

Brandi and Jerry did the following controlled experiment to find out how the color of an object affects its temperature.

Question: What is the effect of different lid colors on the air temperature inside a glass jar exposed to a lamp?

Hypothesis: The darker the lid color, the greater the increase in air temperature in the glass jar, because darker colors absorb more energy.

Materials:
glass jar
lamp
four colored lids: black, dark gray, light gray, and white
thermometer
meterstick
stopwatch

Procedure:
1. Put the black lid with the attached thermometer on the glass jar.
2. Make sure the starting temperature inside the jar is 24º C.
3. Place lamp 5 centimeters away from the lid and turn on the lamp.
4. After 10 minutes measure the air temperature inside the glass jar and record as Trial 1.
5. Turn off lamp and wait until the air in the jar returns to the starting temperature.
6. Repeat steps 2 through 5 for Trials 2 and 3.
7. Repeat steps 1 through 6 for the dark gray, light gray, and white lids.
8. Calculate and record the average air temperature for each lid color.